As it has been clearly communicated through several forms of digital expression, my transition to Maine has brought up a good deal of anxiety as I've wondered how I will survive with no connections to anyone or anything and many moments of questioning why in the world I thought it would be a good idea to come up here. I am introverted in that I need to spend time alone to be contented, but this hangs on the condition that I know I can return to a home base of people I love and that love me back. Part of the appeal of Maine is that there is plenty of space for alone time; I have many thoughts to think right now that deserve some attention. Nonetheless, having no safety network for the few
Oh, also, pictures are on the next page.
I left New Gloucester on Wednesday to come home to being homeless in L/A. My other option was to go to Augusta to stay with my supervisor who kindly offered to house me until I found an apartment. The reason I didn't do this was because she also kindly offered to give me Thursday off to apartment hunt. The 30-40 minute commute made me want to look into other options for myself. Fortunately, a new Americorps friend offered to let me stay with her and her sister at their apartment in L/A, but only for one night and only until 7:50am the next morning. I slept in my sleeping bag on their floor and was out the door by the agreed upon time to go find some public place to buy time before my first apartment viewing at 10am. I went to the Auburn library, and have decided it will be my new quiet hang out place, à la the Amelie's atrium. It's wonderful.
While checking my email at the library, I received an email from a woman named Ginny offering to house me temporarily at her place or let me rent a room if I liked it there. Ginny got my contact information from Rev. Per at a Presbyterian church I contacted in L/A before coming up here ("hello, I'm homeless, would you help me find a place to live?"). The church is called Free Grace and they have been constantly checking in with me to get updates on my progress and to offer help moving, finding my way around town, and all of it leaves me stunned at and grateful for the beauty of the Church being the Church it's told to be. Family helping out family. Adding knots to the net. Anyway, I called her instantly and set up a time to meet with her directly following my first apartment tour.
My apartment tour went well, but only because I aggressively rejected the first apartment the landlord showed me. It had weird green carpet that looked like astroturf, smelled smoky, and, most weird of all, you had to walk through your bathroom to get to the kitchen. He said he was just about to put another apartment on the market that he thought I'd like, so we went to check out the other. That is going to be my new home! I will have pictures of it soon. It's way cute if I do say so myself.
I punched Ginny's address, or tried to anyway, into my GPS only to discover that she didn't actually live in Auburn, but she lived in Lewiston. Because of my previous experiences in Lewiston, I was feeling apprehensive about going to meet her. However, upon arriving, I saw a lovely and well maintained home and was greeted at its front porch entrance by a kind-faced and put together woman about my mom's age along with a precious dark, curly-haired, golden-skinned child named Maryam, age 3. Ginny and Maryam showed me around the house which smelled of exotic home cooking, courtesy of Maryam's Moroccan mother who lives at the house with Ginny. After our tour, Ginny made me pumpkin spice tea served with some flat bread made by Oma Maryam (mother of Maryam; at least that's the phonetic spelling) which we topped with butter and honey. We proceeded to have a candid conversation about life and faith that concluded with Ginny offering to let me stay with her that evening and me joyfully accepting, no longer homeless, no longer imposing. I will continue to stay here until I am all settled at the apartment and I will DEFINITELY come back to visit and eat more of the delicious food I've been getting here. Some knots in the net.
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| My Bedroom! |
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| The kitchen that is "stuck in the 70s," as Ginny said. There is always a tub of dates kept on the table and there are always olives served at dinner, thanks to my Moroccan housemates. We have eaten dinner together all 4 nights I've been here and lunch together today. Both Ginny and Oma Maryam are excellent cooks. First night was fish, mashed potatoes, okra, and tomato-cucumber salad; second was pasta with meat sauce; third was homemade zucchini soup; fourth was Moroccan slow cooked chicken and sweet rice with almonds. |
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| The house |
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| Decal on the wall; the original intent for the house was for it to be a home for single mothers to live while they got back on their feet. So far, only Oma Maryam is here, but she's lived her 2 years and has just successfully been able to file for a Green Card. |
That night, I went to a bar in L/A with the pair of sisters I stayed with Wednesday and another Americorps girl in Lewiston. We had a fun, fun, fun time. I found solidarity with one of the sisters through the mutual predicament of being recent undergrad graduates that don't yet know how to live in real life. We also realized we both want to see Hotel Transylvania, which made me think, "you must be a silly person, maybe even a little pasty." Friendship! Yes!
I went to Free Grace church with Ginny this morning and was warmly welcomed by many people who already knew who I was because Per worked so hard to get the word out that I was coming and needed somewhere to stay. Lots of knots.
Tonight I went to Starbucks because I needed to do some work and I can't work at home. I ran into one of my co-workers, Abdi (phonetic spelling; oh, Somali language...) who I had a fantastic conversation with, during which I found out he lives right across the hall from my friend I stayed with Wednesday night. Also during this conversation, I brought up Amelie's, because I am feeling it today, by just describing it, not saying its name, only to have someone turn around and ask, "Are you talking about Amelie's?!" to which I freaked out and said "WHAAAAAAAAT????" The guy used to live in South Carolina and knew exactly what I was talking about. Small world tied together.
The net is appearing. Strangers who were friends I'd never met. God is faithfully providing all I need.
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| Taking a drive to get to know my new home (I parked to take this, don't worry). |
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| Thistles |
JB
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